Spring warms up with local cleanups

Now that the snow is finally melting, several local organizations are warming up with spring cleanups.

The Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy is planning its annual stream cleanup on April 12.

Krista Scheirer of the conservancy said the organization has been doing the stream cleanup for 12 years and the obvious reason is to get all the trash cleaned up before it finds its way into the stream.

“Each year we stuff three dumpsters full of trash,” she said.

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She also said the stream cleanups help educate the community. Scheirer said people are “horrified” by the amount of trash they see while volunteering.

“I would doubt anyone who attends this event will ever litter again,” she said.

Scheirer said things as big as tires and boats have made their way to streams. She said trash can make its way to bigger bodies of water like the Delaware River if it’s not caught in time. She also said they try to focus on areas where the trash can catch in an island during the stream cleanup such as where route 113 crosses the Perkiomen.

Scheirer said the conservancy is a non-profit and is always looking for new sponsors to help with financial support.

The Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority is also looking for sponsors for this year’s Pick it Up Pottstown on April 24. The event is a cleanup effort for the downtown business district. Sheila Dugan, Main Street manager, said the event is in need of trash bags, gloves, rakes, brooms and more.

“I would love to be able to get T-shirts for everyone that’s volunteering,” Dugan said.

Dugan said sponsors that donate more than $250 will have their company name on the T-shirts but that everyone who donates will be recognized online. She said the mission for this year’s cleanup effort is clean and safe streets.

“We can hold a hundred events but that won’t matter if people don’t feel the streets are clean and safe,” she said.

Dugan said they are asking schools to participate this year and have sent out letters encouraging students, clubs and sports teams to join the effort. She said students are a big focus for this year’s cleanup effort. She said sometimes kids take things for granted and she hopes they will appreciate the downtown community more after they help clean it.

Dugan said the Pottstown cleanup with focus on High Street from York to Evans Street, as well as parts of Hanover and Charlotte Street. Another cleanup day is set for Saturday, April 26, for individuals who can’t make it on April 24 because of work.

This year’s Pottstown cleanup on April 24 will be combined with the new local “Pay it Forward Day,” Dugan said. The day was named after the movie “Pay it Forward” featuring Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt and celebrates acts of kindness.

“The whole point of Pay it Forward is to get the community to start talking about each other,” Dugan said.

Dugan said the day has been celebrated nationally for eight years but this is the first time it has come to Pottstown. She said during the day, students will be encouraged to do good deeds for one another at school then come to the cleanup downtown that afternoon.

Dugan said it’s time for people stop talking about the bad aspects of the area and to focus on the good.

About the Author

Michilea Patterson is the Fit for Life reporter at The Mercury, partially funded by the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation. She is an Army brat and her father retired from the military while stationed in Missouri. She was the editor-in-chief of her college newspaper, the Lincoln Clarion, in Jefferson City, Mo. She graduated from Lincoln with her B.S. in journalism in 2013. Reach the author at mpatterson@pottsmerc.com
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